UNL helping students get home after chaperone disappears (detained by Chinese authorities)

Source: Omaha World Herald

By Leslie Reed

LINCOLN — University of Nebraska-Lincoln officials are assisting five study-abroad students who asked to return early from China after their faculty chaperone disappeared.

Spokeswoman Kelly Bartling said UNL officials have been unable to confirm reports that the instructor, Weixing Li, has been detained for unknown reasons by Chinese authorities. Because Li is a Chinese citizen, the Chinese government has not reported his status or whereabouts to U.S. officials.

Li's family told UNL officials they learned he had been detained, Bartling said.

A nontenured faculty member who holds a Ph.D. in business administration and management, Li accompanied 18 graduate and upper-level undergraduate students to China in May. Seven of the students returned to the United States as planned in early June, after four weeks of classroom study and touring.